


Between the dead and dying

by Hanajimasama



Category: The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Genre: Dreams, M/M, Mild Angst, Nightmares, Some Fluff, creepy church, striving to live
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25056523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hanajimasama/pseuds/Hanajimasama
Summary: Faraday wakes in a nightmarish church with only Vasquez to guide him.
Relationships: Joshua Faraday/Vasquez
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17
Collections: Mag7 Summer Swagbag Challenge





	Between the dead and dying

**Author's Note:**

> Theme prompt: ‘Surrender’.

“Always been lucky with one-eyed Jacks.” 

The dynamite was thrown and Faraday had no chance to move as the stick summoned forth a deafening thunder and a hellish fire. He was propelled violently backwards from the blast, rolling to land in one of the trenches. His vision was blurred and he could barely hear muffled shouting past the strange high pitch ringing in his ear. Unable to move, he had no choice but to let the soil rain back down onto his upturned face. 

He chuckled to himself as he lay in the ditch covered in dirt like some poorly planted vegetable. When did I become the hero type?

He groaned as he tried to move, the pain of the gunshot wound in his side a reminder of how badly he was injured. Shit, I liked this vest too. Guess I’ll just -rest- awhile. Sam’ll sort it-  
His eyes could stay open no longer and Faraday sank into a deep slumber.

-

The town of Rose Creek fell silent, the survivors slowly gracing its dusty streets as Sam exited the church, settling his hat firmly back on his head. Revenge tasted surprisingly sour. It might not fill that gaping hole in his heart, but Bogue was dead. He could terrorise no one ever again. 

Sam looked around for his motley crew. “Mr Chisolm!” He turned to see two men carefully pulling Goodnight out of a shrub. “He’s alive!” Another call from the steeple confirmed that Billy was too alive. 

Teddy limped up with Vasquez and Red Harvest. “Mr Horne is alive,” Teddy reported wearily, holding his shoulder in pain.

“I’m going to look for Faraday.” Vasquez announced. 

“After that?” Sam sighed, it would be a perfect ending to have them all in one piece but he knew that the world was not so rose-coloured.

“No. He’s alive,” insisted Vasquez. 

“I’ll go too.” Red Harvest said in his own language. 

Sam looked at Red and then back to Vasquez. “Red Harvest said he’ll help. I’ll see to the townsfolk.” 

“Gracias.” Vasquez mounted his horse and the pair headed out towards where the Gatling gun had been. 

“I really hope he’s alive, Vasquez.” Sam mumbled.

-

Faraday awoke amidst broken pews and rubble, the scent of fire and burning wood filling his nose. His vision was blurred and the smoke around him wasn’t helping. He groaned as he moved his legs to kick some of the wood away, but as soon as he tried to sit up his body was full of a burning pain. 

“Ah, right, I was shot,” he grimaced, looking down at his red soaked vest. Slowly he pushed himself up, using a pew as a support, and looked around the large room with an abnormally high ceiling, rubbing the dust from his eyes. “How the hell did I end up here?” 

“Güero.” Faraday squinted through the darkness and saw a familiar face between the flames: the tall dark bandido seemed to stand out from this hellish nightmare with a soft glow about him. 

“Hey, you going to give me a hand?” he called out as he limped towards his new-found comrades, but Vasquez made no effort to move. “Come on, you stupid Mexican-“ Faraday tripped over a destroyed pew and stumbled a few inches before collapsing to the floor. “Jesus fu-“ 

A hand came to rest on the middle of his back and another took his arm, carefully lifting him up. “Now you help-“ But Faraday looked round to find that Vasquez had gone.

“Come on, güero, what are you playing at?” How could Vasquez mock him so when he was injured? “Come on.” Vasquez was leaning against a large archway, his hat tipped forward to cover his face and smoke rising from under it obscuring most of his features. As Faraday watched he pushed himself upright and walked away, boots clicking against the stone floor, reverberating softly amidst all the mayhem that surrounded them. 

Swearing, Faraday followed as fast as he could. 

-

The corridors were barely lit, even with the smouldering wreckage everywhere. Some of the walls had fallen, the ceiling dropping under the weight of the air itself. It finally occurred to him that this was far too big to be the little church in Rose Creek. Where were they? In the distance he could make out the sound of a piano – it was eerily quiet.

“Hey, Vasquez-“ Faraday took a painful deep breath: his body hurt so much, every step sending a wave of fire through him. “Wait up-“ He leant against the wall and tried to use it as a crutch but he stumbled once again and ended in a heap on the warm stone floor. Fatigue was finally catching up with him. 

Why should he move? Where was he even going? Who would be waiting for him? He could feel himself surrendering to the dark surroundings which seemed to close in around him, almost as if they were trying to consume him. 

A rough hand touched his cheek and the darkness seemed to slither back into just shadows. “Did you forget?” Faraday struggled to lift his head, looking up at Vasquez who was crouched beside him. “Isn’t this going to be our new start?” Vasquez seemed to have a soft glow around him which warmed Faraday’s soul.

Faraday groaned and laid his head back against the stone floor. He’d forgotten that promise: what a stupid thing to say. His gran would have called that a pie-crust promise – ‘easily made, easily broken.’ He felt his head being carefully lifted and set down on some well-worn material, and a hand stroked his hair. 

“Giving up?” Faraday managed to roll onto his back to look up at Vasquez, though he couldn’t make out any of his features; they were engulfed in the smoke from the cigar, the smoke a soft ashen grey. “What about our farm?”

Faraday forced himself to sit upright, hissing through his teeth from the pain. 

“Ain’t right,” he grumbled “for us.” He tensed as a hand reached for him to lace their fingers together and Vasquez’s head came to rest on his shoulder; he could see his dark curly hair and his heart beat faster.

“You still say that, after everything?” Vasquez sounded upset. “You’re a clumsy fool but you’re my greatest love.” Faraday felt a smile tug at his lips – his life had been filled with one night stands and whores: what was love to a dashing rogue always on the move?  
What was Vasquez? A tall dark shit-talking Mexican...whose smile was like the sun breaking through a cloudy sky.

Faraday chuckled to himself. “I’m starting to sound as fancy as Goodnight.” He felt the weight move from his back. “Vasquez?” He turned so suddenly he forgot his wounds and ended up curled right back into a ball. “Vasquez?” He managed to glance up but all he could see was the never-ending corridor and flames that flickered in an absent breeze. Everything hurt. He was alone. Again. Why had he given himself that foolish notion that he might actually have something to cling too, to love, to cherish? “Ale- Alejandro…”

“Josh!” The voice seemed to come from a distant figure. “Come on, wake up.”

“I am awake!” Faraday took a deep breath to prepare for pushing himself onto his knees, holding in his pain. “One, Two - argh!” he yelled loudly as he rose to his feet. Leaning against the wall again, he carried on as fast as he could - he had to follow Vasquez. 

What they had was still new but just hearing Vasquez’ voice made his heart skip a beat. His gran might be rolling in her grave, but this man had given him a purpose to live for, something to hold onto. Though to be fair Vasquez did most of the holding, even though he was skinnier - the dark-haired bandido didn’t let that stop him from holding Faraday so firmly that it had put him at ease. Maybe, just maybe, Vasquez was the better lover - not that he’d ever tell him that. 

“I have to- keep goin’ - gonna start again, yeah…no more wanderin’, just you and that farm. Not that I know anything about animals,” Faraday mumbled to himself, trailing Vasquez through the burning church. The flames grew hotter and now the corridors were leaping with flames; the piano that he had been hearing since waking up was growing louder, the lower notes reverberating through him like a drum. Sweat was pouring from him as he struggled with each step, the walls too fiery to support him. 

“Come on, güero, you don’t have much time.” 

Faraday stopped to catch his breath and to try and calm, the horrible stitch in his side. How long had he been walking? A sudden gust of wind whirled down the corridor spurring the flames around him like a tornado, and he recoiled from the blast of heat, stumbling into a clumsy run through a gap in the flames. It was strange - he couldn’t hear his own footsteps, his ragged breath, or even the roaring fire around him. The only sound to reach his ears was the sound of the organ playing an eerie tune he didn’t recognise. 

Suddenly he stumbled through a plume of smoke and the air became cool and deafeningly silent. Looking around he found himself in the nave of the church, and stranger still this room was completely intact, though the rest of the church was in flames. The wooden pews lined up perfectly before the white marble altar with naught but a thick book laid open, baring it’s pages for whoever was there to read them. Sitting in one pew was a solitary person, their head hung low and face masked by eerie shadows. 

Should he disturb a person in prayer? He crossed in front of the pews, trying to get a glimpse of the person. Maybe they’re stuck here too? Something about the figure drew him closer, the only other person Faraday had seen in this hellish place. Reaching out to them his fingers mere centimetres away when a voice called out to him 

“Guero!” His eyes shot up to see Vasquez standing at the arched doorway, silhouetted against the bright light behind him, and when he looked back down to the figure it had gone. He let his fingers trail across the pew as he stumbled to the aisle down the middle of the room. His body suddenly felt even heavier, as though a great weight had been placed upon him. 

“Joshua?” That voice… Turning around he saw a stocky old lady with a starch crisp apron, her grey hair tied up in a tight bun, though her face was strangely shadowed, standing in front of the altar. 

“Gran?” His gran had raised him, the only person that had ever given a damn about him.

“Look at you, you need a good scrub,” she scolded, shaking her head. “Come here.” Faraday went to move forward but stopped, staring - the walls behind her were no longer of featureless but of twisted grotesque monsters. Whirling around as quickly as he could, he took a painful step towards Vasquez, but with each step the weight grew heavier and the ground gradually got steeper as though he were crawling out the pits of hell. 

The light seemed ever further away: by this point he was on all four,s crawling like a beast across the sloped floor. Beads of sweat rolled down his face like the pouring rain, and the heat behind him was creeping up scorching everything in its path. So focused on climbing, Faraday couldn’t spare a look behind him but he could feel the fire at his heels.   
“I can’t- die – here,” he wheezed, using his arms to drag himself up the slope. He wouldn’t surrender himself to this hellish darkness. He had already surrendered his heart to Vasquez, and hopeless as it seemed to be...it was what he longed for. 

“You’re slow, guero.” Faraday looked up from the stone floor to see Vasquez’s outstretched hand, his face still shadowed by the harsh light shining behind him. Faraday smirked, he didn’t need telling twice and reached weakly to grab Vasquez’s hand. In that instant the light became a soft warming glow and he felt as though he was suddenly floating in thin air, his body weightless and free of pain. The church around him faded into the glow of the light as Vasquez held him close, and resting his head on Vasquez’s shoulder he slowly wrapped his arms around his chest with a sigh. 

-

Faraday’s eyes opened slowly, squinting at the sudden shock of natural light. Rolling his head to the left he saw a familiar figure sitting beside his bed, arms folded across his chest and hat covering his eyes. He tried to lift his arm but it was painfully heavy; frowning, he willed it several times before it agreed to move, albeit very slowly. It moved towards Vasquez and managed to weakly tug on his vest, the sudden touch bringing Vasquez out of his nap. He followed the hand to Faraday who was still struggling to keep his eyes open. 

“Guero..” 

Faraday opened his mouth to speak but his throat was so dry. “H-how..” he choked out, “How long-”

“Easy, Faraday.” Vasquez took hold of his hand, stroking a calloused thumb over his knuckles. “You’ve been taking a long-ass nap.” Faraday searched his eyes for an answer. “Almost a week.”

“W-hat-” Faraday tried to move but a wave of pain washed over him and he groaned in agony. 

“I’ll go get the doctor. Stay.”

“Ain’t..going..nowhere,” he wheezed, laying his head back onto the pillow as Vasquez rose to his feet. “V-Vas-quez…” he managed to choke out. Vasquez looked down at Faraday who tried to lift his hand. “Did..I..dream.it..all...us…” 

Vasquez looked shocked for a moment, then smirked, and leaning down he took Faraday’s hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it gently. Faraday felt his body shudder from the tickle of Vasquez’s beard. Faraday had spurned Vasquez’s advances at first. He thought Vasquez was joking about them settling down somewhere but Vasquez’s eyes seemed to light up when he spoke of it and Faraday had agreed to it, though part of him thought one or both of them would die in the fight for Rose Creek. “As long as you still want to, Mi vida.”

Faraday nodded weakly “Yeah..I do..” 

Vasquez set a hand next to Faraday’s head and leant in for a chaste kiss. “Now rest.”

Never thought I’d have that..a future worth living for.. Faraday smiled and surrendered himself back to the sleep that relentlessly tugged at his eyelids.


End file.
